Chapter Text
An alarm wailed, piercing the almost silence that was moments before.
People in white lab coats were running every which way, papers haphazardly held in their arms, clutched to their chests as they fluttered from their grasp minutely. Others in scrubs of varying colours stood in door ways, gently holding up patients in blue, dress like gowns as they stumbled from their beds, wires still connected to various points along their bodies. The most worrying however, were those in hazmat suits all sprinting in the same direction, gurneys and tools white knuckled in their gloved hands. The shouting was drowned out by the alarm, but everyone knew what was happening.
Containments been breached.
A couple months ago
A child sat silently in a white padded room, one way glass covering the majority of the long right wall. His fingers fumbled with a small toy in his lap, hands shaking violently. His eyes flickered around, sporadically checking each of the four corners of the room with random degrees of intensity. A man, dressed in an unbuttoned white lab coat and blue scrubs, stands on the on the other side of the glass, the edge of his clipboard digging into his chest as he wrote.
The pen abruptly stopped as the door opened. A woman stepped in, short heeled boots clicking softly on the linoleum flooring. “Is he still?-” She didn’t have time to finish, her tone clipped and difficult to get out, before she was interrupted. He nodded, “he’s still shaking, fidgeting with that damn toy and now he’s watching the corners of the room. I think we need to move him to a different containment unit.” He said, words choppy and monotone with an indiscernible accent. “Get the team and be here in ten minutes, unit four preferred. This boy is still dangerous.”
The woman nodded, turning on her heel and quickly walking from the room, her fingers drumming on the side of her leg.
Unit Four was there in seven minutes, dressed head to toe in dark blue hazmat suits, two short guns, a tranquilizer, and a taser clipped in at their sides.
“Ready for orders, sir.” The one in the front, black gloved hands clasped around a white straight jacket, spoke.
“Be quick, be careful, and keep three pairs of eyes on him at all times. I will be locking the door the minute you step in there. If you cannot get control over him, may god help you.” The man from before spoke gravely, a ring of silver keys hanging limply from his finger.
They all nodded, feet shifting apprehensively as they walked in a march behind the doctor, hands clenched at their sides. When they reached the door, the doctor waved his hand to one of the guards standing beside it. The guard nodded, holstering his gun before he turned and typed in a quick code in a keypad directly behind him. When the door opened with a click the doctor continued in, keys coming up to be gripped tightly in his palm, the teeth digging painfully into his skin.
The next door was a blinding white, another small keypad sat at face height right beside it. The doctor shoved a key into the hole, twisting it once to the right, once to the left, and back to the right. A soft buzzer hissed as the plastic covering unlocked and slid out of sight to reveal the keys. The the doctor typed in a seven digit code, hand shaking a little before the door clicked, but didn’t open. He spun around, facing the people in the hazmat suits. “Alright, here we are. Remember, as soon as you enter get the boy in the jacket, lock it tightly, then knock the code on the door and I will let you back out. We have no one on standby, unfortunately. So if you’re not back within ten minutes, this door stays closed and will not reopen.” He nodded to the people one last time before dragging the door open quickly, letting the group thunder past him as they entered. When the last person was through, he shoved the door closed just as fast, a click indicating the door was locked sounding.
A few rooms over, several thick walls separating them, was another boy. He was leaned against a wall, eyes wide and teeth bared in a snarl, his unnaturally sharp canines glinting in the artificial light. Two people, a man and a woman stood at the other end of the room, crouched down with two long police tasers held tightly in their hands. Their eyes were hard, knees bent as they prepared to spring in any direction if they so chose.
“If you don’t do it on your own, we will be forced to make you, child.” The woman said.
The boy just pushed harder into the wall, a growl rumbling in his throat. The woman sighed, shuffling her feet till she was standing straight, the taser she held falling to her side. “Have it your way then.” She hummed. With a click of her finger the man sprang forward, feet pounding the floor as he took a few quick strides before he jabbed the taser into the boys chest. He didn’t turn it on, but his finger twitched threateningly on the button. “Don’t make us do this, 087.” The woman said, still at the other end of the room. The man shoved the taser harder into his chest painfully.
When the boy, 087, didn’t respond with anything more than a gnashing of his teeth the woman just sighed again, clicking her fingers. The man removed the taser from 087’s chest, positioning it on his side before turning it on. They boy wailed, seizing up as the electricity shocked his system.
When the man pulled it away, turning it off, the boy whimpered pitifully, doing his best to drag himself away. His body was sluggish, and twitchy from the voltage, his side stinging painfully. When the man came forward, taser held back out threateningly the boy whined, dropping his head in shame before he finally did as asked. His skin rippled slightly, fingernails elongating, his eyes closed momentarily before reopening as black irises replaced soft brown, the whites of his eyes almost completely obscured. Soft ears sprouted from his head, bones clicking and groaning painfully as they changed structure. When he was done, a too skinny brown bear cub sat hunched where he once was, the white clothing he had been wearing hanging off of it.
“There, that wasn’t hard now, was it?” The woman smiled, eyes glinting with something sinister as she walked up, a small syringe held in her hand.
“Useless fucking android!” He screamed, the wires clutched in his hands still sizzling and popping little sparks from the exposed metal of the inner wires. Below him, a child cowered, human arm clasped tightly around a half metal arm hanging limply at his side. A panel was open on the faux, slightly too light pigmented skin, ripped edges of the rest of the wires that the man held in his grasp sizzling and popping, drawing minutely jerks from the limb.
The man kept yelling, voice loud and shrill as he waved his hands around, threatening the boy several times before he began pacing around the too large workshop room. The boy still said nothing, staring blankly at the floor.
“Say something!” The man shouted, stomping up to the boy and looming over him, his clenched fist raised above the boys head. The android didn’t respond.
The man, arm shaking, finally let the hand fall. He couldn’t hit it. As mad as he was, he couldn’t hit it. He needs this job. Damaging one of the lab’s favorite little toys would get him sacked for sure. He clenched his teeth, letting out another frustrated shout before he walked from the room, slamming the door behind him. The door clicked as it locked.
Ponchos crinkled as the three walked around below the tank. The clipboards held in their hands were plastic instead of the usual wood, easier to clean if they were to get wet. Their boots squelched loudly on the wet concrete floor, the puddles that had accumulated there yet to be cleaned by the night staff.
“Where is he, we’ve been here for five minutes already.” A man hissed, fist banging on the side of the thick glass tank. A quick flash of dark teal flashing from inside the water answered his question. A boys head popped up from over the edge of the tanks wall, slit pupil eyes blinking at them. It was jarring almost, the way his gills that ribbed either side of his neck flapped uselessly, the sharp fins running down his cheeks shivered, a thin, almost clear green film retracted to the sides of his eyes while his eye lids pulled up when he blinked. His hair was black, pasted to the sides of his cheeks and flat against the top of his head. Looking lower down, the pale skin was patched with shiny teal skin around his abdomen before giving way to a fully dark teal fish tail, swishing side to side to keep his afloat. Long spikes laid flush against the boys tail all the way down puffed up slightly when the man gave him an awestruck look.
The other two were watching as well, their clipboards now hanging at their sides as they observed. Finally, one of them spoke. “That’s 089, our pufferfish hybrid. We originally wanted a shark, but unfortunately for us it’s… less than legal to poach a shark over a puffer fish for DNA.” Her voice was flowy, vowels accented.
The man beside her scoffed, “and when have we ever cared for legalities?”
The woman hummed, an unhumorous smile tugging at her red tinted lips. “Since we’ve been under close watch with the marine scientists over at Manta.”
The man that had been staring at the creature in the tank finally looked back, hand still pushed up on the glass. The boy had sank back into the water and was now staring at the man’s hand, eyes blown wide as he seemed to want to push his hand up against the man’s, hand lifted up but hesitating. The man paid no mind to it, “still? I thought you’d skipped out of their radar when you transferred to land mammals, what was it.. a rabbit mutant?” He said.
The woman nodded, “yes. 092, she was fused with a rabbit. Unfortunately she didn’t make it. Something about trying to genetically engineer a shifter doesn’t pair well with the body.” The woman shrugged, unsympathetic. The man at the tank nodded, turning back to face the boy. He flinched back pulling his arms tightly against his chest, the sharp fins running along his arms flattened down as he stared, eyes dialated so thin they almost disappeared into the golden yellow of his irises. The man laughed softly, smiling manically. “But this one.. this one is an absolute beauty. I can’t believe you managed to get your hands on him. Was he a genetic mutant too, or did you just manage to find him?” He asked, not drawing his eyes from the now cowering creature.
“We found him. He was swimming in the cove right on the outskirts of Mantas territory. The only reason we managed to swipe him, actually.” The woman answered. The man beside her nodded, his fingers tapping rhythmically against his clipboard. “Higgins, you’re scaring it. Stop looking at it like you’re going to cook it for dinner.” He said, a slight lilt to his tone betraying his amusement. The man at the tank, Higgins, let out a tortured sigh, tipping his head back before he stepped away, removing his hand from the glass.
He walked up to the the other two, hands clasped behind his back. “When can I start my tests?” His face was still split in a manic grin, eyes bugging from his too small face. The woman grimaced. “In two days. We need to move him to a more secure location. This is only temporary given we only got him in yesterday.” She said, voice clipped with mild discomfort as Higgins stared her down. “Right,” he hummed happily. “I’ll see you two in two days then. Farewell for now, Uh, what were your names again?”
The woman sighed, “Doctor Margret Harris, and he’s Doctor Andrew Bockle.” She said, pointing to Doctor Bockle beside her.
Higgins nodded, bringing one of his hands from behind his back and waving to them before he walked out, muttering to himself happily.
“What an odd man.” Doctor Bockle spoke, breaking the thick silence. “More like psychotic.” Doctor Harris retorted, turning away from the door to watch the creature in the tank. He still sat where had been before, tail swaying gently to keep him afloat. He was staring at them.